Every message gets a reply from me within one business day.
Internal controls and fraud prevention, New York
How do you know?
Somebody in your business can move money. Somebody can add a vendor. Somebody signs off on the numbers. For thirty years at City National Bank, my job was to ask how we knew each of those was right. Now I ask it for owners.
30
Years
at City National Bank, an RBC company
$20B
Book of business
overseen for the bank’s Entertainment Division
100+
People
on the New York team I built and led
AML
KYC and BSA
procedures written, run and examined
Where I can help
The places money and trust quietly leak.
01 Controls
Internal controls
Closing the gaps where money moves and access is granted. Finding them before a fraud does, not after.
You get
A written map of who can move money, and the three or four changes that matter most.
04 Advisory
Advisory
An operator's read on your plans and your numbers: where the risk is sitting, and what it will actually take to close it.
You get
A second set of eyes before the big decision, not after.
Most of the problems I find were never anyone's decision. A login nobody closed, a vendor nobody checked, an approval that became a habit. Here is where I usually start.
02 Verification
Due diligence
A steady way of vetting the clients, vendors and partners you already trust, so that trust is earned rather than assumed.
You get
A vendor and counterparty check your staff can run on their own.
05 Operations
Operating efficiency
Finding the waste inside workflows and approval chains that were never designed. They just accumulated.
You get
Fewer handoffs, faster approvals, and the same control.
03 Compliance
Compliance readiness
AML, KYC and BSA procedures built for your team to follow, not filed in a binder for an examiner.
You get
Procedures in plain language, tested before anyone asks.
Free one-page PDF
Not sure where to start?
The 10-minute back-office check. Ten yes-or-no questions, about a minute each. Every no is a place to begin.
How it works
Three steps. No binder.
I work with owners directly, one company at a time. You talk to me at every step, not an account team.
1
A conversation
You tell me how money moves in your business and who can touch it. I tell you what I would look at first.
One call
2
A careful look
I go through vendors, payroll, access and approvals with the people who run them, and write up what I find in plain language.
A short written review
3
Fixes your team can run
We put in the few controls that matter, sized for your company. Then I check back to make sure they hold.
A defined project or a light retainer
The principle
The rigor of a bank, the attention of one person.
Frank Troutman
Background
Thirty years, one discipline.
I spent my career where money, access and trust meet. That is still the only thing I do.
1995 to 2026
Senior Vice President, City National Bank
I built and led the New York office of the bank’s Entertainment Division. I oversaw a $20 billion book of business and a team of more than 100.
Three decades
AML, KYC and BSA compliance
I built and ran the procedures examiners test for. Now I bring the same rigor to businesses that never had a compliance department.
Community
Giving back to the arts
Supporter, Broadway Cares and the Entertainment Community Fund. Mentor, IFP Incubator. Past Board Chair, New York Musical Festival.
Field Notes
Written for owners, not examiners.
Free one-page PDF
Ten questions I would ask on day one.
Only tick yes if you could show someone how you know: a list, a report with initials on it, a date on the calendar.
Contact
Start with a conversation.
Tell me how money moves in your business and who can touch it, and I will tell you what I would look at first.
I read every message myself. You will hear back within one business day.